Variable size character generator with constant display density method

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for producing variable size alphanumeric, punctuation and other symbol characters having a constant display density. Each character is defined through a matrix by a combination of size independent shapes. Only six such shapes are employed to generate all of the characters. Variable sizing of the characters is achieved by expanding the shapes in both the X and Y directions. The display density is maintained within each shape at a constant level that is independent of the degree of expansion of the shape.

United States Patent 91 Stein 1 1 VARIABLE SIZE CHARACTER GENERATOR WITHCONSTANT DISPLAY DENSITY METHOD [75] Inventor: Charles W. Stein, Nashua,NH.

[73] Assignee: Data Royal, Incorporated, Nashua,

22 Filed: Dec. 20, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 427,023

[451 July 1,1975

Primary ExaminerMarshal1 M. Curtis Attorney, Agent, or FirmRichard J.Birch 5 7 ABSTRACT A method and apparatus for producing variable sizealphanumeric, punctuation and other symbol characters having a'constantdisplay density Each character [52] US. Cl. 340/336; 178/30 is definedthruugh a matrix by a combination of Size [51] Illl. CI. G09I 9/32independent Shapes. o six Such shapes are Field Search 340/324 336;ployed to generate all of the characters. Variable siz- 178/30 BIG 3 ingof the characters is achieved by expanding the shapes in both the X andY directions. The display [56] Refcrences Cited density is maintainedwithin each shape at a constant UNITED STATES PATENTS level that isindependent of the degree of expansion of 3,331,985 7/1967 Hammann 340324 AD the shap 3,573,789 4 1971 Sha et al..... 340/324 AD 3,614,76710/1971 Carigll 340/324 AD 24 Clams, 3 Drawmg Flglll'es R 0 M R A M A ,a38 EXPANSION INPUT DATA lNPUT DATA LOGIC BUFFERI N4 #0 INTERFACE RS232INPUT DATA CONTROL LOGIC lNTERFACE BUFFER 2 4,3 fZ. 6 j'o PRlNTER OUTPUTDATA CONTROL LOGIC BUFFER 1 CHARACTER OUTPUT DATA SYMBOL TABLES JHLBUFFER 2 fix CENTRAL PRINTER PROCESSOR INTERFACE 1 36 MATRlX PRINTERSHAPE NU MBER ROW GRAPHIC ROW SHEEI 1 DESCRIPTION OPEN SQUARE (SPACE)/0b FILLED SQUARE lOc TRIANGLE AT 0 TRIANGLE AT 90 TRIANGLE AT I80 -lofTRIANGLE AT 270 FIGI COLUMN O00 O00 000 Oil IOI (L/8 0o: 00\ 001 10a cooCODE OOO

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FIG. 2A

F IG. 2B

SHEET PATEHTEnJuL 1 COLUMN l 2 3 T N WM E RW RI MW Pl.- DrL D|l. \r 2345 7' 34567 2 456 oooo oo 000000 00oo0 o0 000000 0 00000000 000000 00 notto. to o 000 000 00 00 0'0 000 0000 000 '00 000 00 000 000 on. 000 000'00 000 000 000 000 000 000 00 ?-+--0 0000 000 000 29.-. 4 0 a 0 o 0 o oa -e +-t-oooo 0 on. u\w Z ROW SIZE 3 SIZE 4 ITT'T'TI'IUI'UIL'I I375SHEET 3 ROM 30 RAM 28 X as ExPANsIDN INPUT DATA INPUT DATA LOGIC BUFFERI4 A. INTERFACE RS232 INPUT DATA CDNTRDI. LOGIC INTERFACE BUFFER 2 I A,(1 so PRINTER DUTPUT DATA CONTROL LOGIC BUFFER I CHARACTER oUTPUT DATASYMBOL TABLES L BUFFER 2 1 -34' CENTRAI. PRINTER PRoCEssoR INTERFACE I,Fl G. 6 MATRIX PRINTER COLUMN OOI II I III III I00 2) on III III IIIIIo/ PRINTNG III III III III III SIGNALS III 00D 000 000 III III 000 00D000 III III 000 000 000 III III 000 000 000 III FIGS I VARIABLE SIZECHARACTER GENERATOR WITH CONSTANT DISPLAY DENSITY METHOD BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION The present invention relates to character generators ingeneral and more particularly, to a point display system for displayingvariable size characters which have a constant point display density.

The art of generating alphanumeric and other types of characters isrelatively well developed. At the present time CRT-matrix formatcharacter generators are used in a variety of applications.Representative examples of such generators are shown in the followingU.S. Pat. Nos. 3,305,841 issued Feb. 21 1967 to Mr. Schwartz for PATTERNGENERATOR; U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,344 issued Feb. 4, 1969 to R. J. Clarkfor CHAR- ACTER GENERATOR FOR SIMULTANEOUS DIS- PLAY OF SEPARATECHARACTER PATTERNS ON A PLURALITY OF DISPLAY DEVICES; US. Pat. No.3,588,872 issued June 28, 197! to E. R. Kolb for POINT SIZE, COMPUTATIONAND EXPOSURE CONTROL DEVICE FOR A CHARACTER DIS- PLAY APPARATUS; U.S.Pat. No. 3,609,743 issued Sept. 28, l97l to Mr. Lasofffor DISPLAY UNIT;U.S. Pat. No. 3,623,069 issued Nov. 23, l97l to A. E. Malden forMULTIPLEX CHARACTER GENERATOR; and, U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,687 issued June6, 1972 to D. B. Hale for RASTER SCAN SYMBOL GENERATOR. Impact ornon-impact matrix printers are currently employed to generate differenttypes of characters in hard copy. Representative matrix printer typecharacter generators are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,444,319 issued Mayl3, I969 to M. Artzt et. al. for CHARAC- TER GENERATOR and 3,638,2l6issued Jan. 25, I972 to A. E. Brewster for CHARACTER GENERA- TIONSYSTEM.

Although the currently available matrix point displays and printers dooffer some degree of flexibility in terms of character formation andcharacter fonts, they do not provide for variations in character size ona lineto-line basis. In a number of printing applications it would bedesirable to be able to print documents with characters of differentsizes from line-to-line and/or from document-to-document. One example ofsuch a printing application is the ubiquitous shipping label in whichthe product code or product description may be one size, the addresseeanother size, and the Ship-To" address yet another size. Since variablesize characters are potentially useful in any document which requirestextual emphasis, a matrix printing system which selectively producesvariations in character size would have a wide range of applications.

It is accordingly, a general object of the present invention to providea variable character size point display system.

It is a specific object of the invention to provide a variable charactersize matrix printing system.

It is another specific object of the invention to provide a variablesize character generator which can be interfaced to a conventionalimpact or non-impact matrix printer.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a constant matrixprinting density for each character regardless of the size of thecharacter.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a variable sizecharacter generator in which each character is defined by a combinationof size independent shapes.

It is a feature of the invention that only six such size independentshapes are required to generate all of the characters.

It is still another feature of the invention that the six componentshapes are binary coded so that any character in a 5 X 7 format can bedefined by only seven words per character.

It is a further feature of the invention that the binary coding schemefor the size independent component shapes permits the use of arelatively low capacity memory and I/O buffer.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a preferred embodiment of theinvention a standard matrix printer, either impact or non-impact, isused to produce variable size characters. The size of the characters iscontrolled by varying the number of points printed for each of thirtyfive components in a 5 X 7 matrix. Other matrix configurations arepossible within the coding scheme of the invention. The scheme uses sixdifferent, size independent component shapes for each component.

Characters are defined through the 5 X 7 matrix in which each point mayhave one of the following six possible configurations: (1) empty; (2) asquare in which the point is entirely filled; (3) half the point spaceis filled in by a triangle at 0; (4) half the point space is filled inby a triangle at 90; (5) half the point space is filled in by a triangleat I; and, (6) half the point space is filled in by a triangle at 270.Each one of the six configurations is assigned its own unique binarycode. Given a 5 X 7 matrix configuration, a row-by-row code can bedeveloped for each character in seven fifteen bit numbers where eachnumber defines one of the seven rows of points.

The resulting seven fifteen bit numbers provide a size independentdescriptor for each character. The size of the total character is variedby varying the size of each component shape, i.e., triangle or square,in both the X and Y directions. Since the output device of the preferredembodiment is a matrix printer, size expansion of the six componentshapes is achieved by converting the desired size of each componentshape to a series of points to be printed by the matrix printer. Thus,if a size 3" square is desired, the square component is converted to asquare of points having three points on each side. Similarly, a size 4triangle is formed by four points on each side of the triangle. Otherdegrees of expansion can be obtained by increasing the number of matrixprinting points in each dimension of the six component shapes.

A character generator produces a seven bit output to drive the matrixprinter. If the character size is larger than the seven vertical pointprinting line of a standard matrix printer, several passes of theprinter will be required to define the character. However, since thespacing between each printing point of the printer remains constant, thematrix printing density of the character also remains constant eventhough the size of the characters may be changed from line-to-lineand/or from document-to-document.

Having briefly summarized my invention, the objects and features of theinvention can best be understood from the following detailed descriptionof a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustra- 3tion and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a tabular diagram illustrating the six size independentcomponent shapes which are used to define the characters;

FIG. 2A is a diagram of a 5 X 7 matrix showing the formation of thecharacter 9" using the six component shapes illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2B is a tabular diagram showing a seven, fifteen bit numberdescription for the character 9 using the binary component shape codeslisted in FIG. I;

FIGS. 3A and 3B depict the formation of the triangle and squarecomponent shapes at sizes 3 and 4 respec tively;

FIG. 4 illustrates the formation of the character 9 of FIG. 2A at size 3by means of three printing line passes of the matrix printer;

FIG. 5 is a tabular diagram depicting in binary form the first passprinting signal input to the matrix printer for the character 9 at size3', and,

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram of the variable size characterprinting system.

Turning now to the drawings, the method of the pres ent invention isillustrated in FIGS. I through 5 and the apparatus for performing themethod thereof is depicted in functional block diagram form in FIG. 6.The generation of variable size characters is achieved in the presentinvention by defining each character through a matrix having apredetermined number of components with each of the components havingone of a predetermined number of size independent component shapes.

In the preferred embodiment six, size independent component Shapes,Shown in tabular form in FIG. 1 and identified generally by thereference numeral 10, are

employed to form a character, such as, the character nine" shown in FIG.2A and indicated generally by the reference numeral 12. The six, sizesindependent component shapes 10a through 10f comprise, respectively, anopen square or space within which nothing is printed, a filled in squarein which the entire area is printed, a printed triangle at a printedtriangle at 90, a printed triangle at l80 and a printed triangle at 270.

The six component shapes 100 through 10f are used to define thecharacter nine shown in FIG. 2A through an N X M matrix 14. For purposesof illustration the matrix is shown as a conventional X 7 matrix.However, it should be understood that other matrix configurations can beemployed in accordance with the invention to generate variable sizecharacters having a different aspect ratio.

Given the illustrative 5 X 7 matrix shown in FIG. 2A, it will beappreciated that the matrix defines thirty five individual points 16which are arranged in five vertical columns and seven horizontal rows.Each matrix point has a specific component shape. For example, the pointidentified by Row 1, Column 1 in FIG. 2A has a compo nent shape 10d, Le,a triangle at 90 while the point identified by Row 1, Column 5 has acomponent shape 10c, i.e., a triangle at 0.

Each one of the six component shapes 100 through 10f is assigned a threebit binary code as shown in FIG. 1. By coding each of the individualpoints 16 within ma trix M, a row-by-row code can be developed for eachcharacter 12 using seven fifteen bit numbers 18 where each number 18defines one of the seven rows of points. FIG. 28 illustrates the codingarrangement for the character nine shown in FIG. 2A. The resulting sevenfifteen bit numbers provide a size independent descriptor 20 for eachcharacter 12. It will be appreciated that this coding scheme permits theuse of the same amount of data to describe each character re gardless ofthe size of the character thereby substantially reducing the datastorage requirements.

The size of the total character I2 is varied in the present invention byvarying the size of each component shape 10a through l0fin both the Xand Y directions. Since the output device if the preferred embodiment isa matrix printer, size expansion of the six component shapes is achievedby converting the desired size of each component shape to a series ofpoints to be printed by the matrix printer. However, the same tech niqueis applicable to the generalized form of the invention in which thecomponent shapes are converted to a series of inside display pointshaving one of two display states. In the first state, the displaycondition is visible while in the second state the display condition isinvisible? Therefore, the term point display as used herein means adevice which creates a visual image by means of a plurality of discretepoints having two display states.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A, 3B and 4, FIG. 3A illustrates a size 3expanded square corresponding to the matrix point 16 shown in FIG. 2A.In accordance with the expansion algorithm, the size 3 square isconverted to a square of points 22 having three points on each side.Thus, in the size 3 configuration, each matrix point 16 is defined by asquare of nine matrix printing points having three points on each side.Similarly, a size 4 square or triangle is formed by four points 22 oneach side of the triangle as illustrated in FIG. 38. Although only size3 and size 4 levels of expansion have been shown in the drawings, itshould be understood that other degrees of expansion can be obtained byincreasing the number of matrix printing points in each dimension of thesix component shapes through 10f.

One of the features and advantages of the present invention is that thevisual display or printing point density is constant regardless of thesize of each character. It should be seen from an inspection of FIGS. 3Aand 38 that the spacing between and among the points 22 is the same atsize 3 and at size 4. This arrangement significantly improves the visualappearance of the resulting visual display or hard copy print of thecharacters.

The full expansion of the entire FIG. 2A character nine at size 3 isdepicted in FIG. 4. For purposes of clarity, the formation of the ninepoint, 3 X 3 array which represents a matrix point I6 is depicted onlyin the area defined by Row 1, Column 1 of FIG. 4. Looking specificallyat the Row 1, Column 1 area, the visual display or printing points 22are illustrated as a filled-in circle 220 or an empty circle 22b todepict, respectively, a point which is printed and a point which is notprinted. The socalled no-print points 22b have been omitted from theremainder of FIG. 4 again only for purposes of clarity.

It can be seen from a comparison of FIG. 2A with FIG. 4 that each one ofthe individual component shapes 10a through 10f has been expanded to asize 3 by defining the component shape in terms of nine printing points22 arranged in a 3 X 3 square. Each component shape is visuallypresented by means of points 220 and/or no-points 22b. The visualpresentation of the individual component shape points 22 can beimplemented physically in a variety of ways. As previously mentioned, inthe preferred embodiment these points are printed or not printed by aconventional impact or non-impact matrix printer. However, it should beappreciated that the invention is equally suitable for any other type ofvisual point display, such as for example, lighted Scoreboards, stockquotation displays and cathode ray tubes.

Although the particular scanning format may vary depending upon the typeof visual point display selected for display of the expanded charactershown in FIG. 4, the method of the present invention can best beunderstood from again considering an illustrative example. For instance,assume that the visual display of the enlarged character shown in FIG. 4will be performed by a matrix printer having a print head which includesseven print wires arranged vertically and mounted on a horizontallymovable carriage. The print wires are selectively pulsed in theconventional manner as the carriage sweeps horizontally across the printline. Looking at FIG. 4, it can be seen that the printing of theenlarged character nine can be accomplished by such a matrix printer inthree horizontal passes of the printer. Each pass is identified in FIG.4 by an appropriate label Print Line No. I", Print Line No. 2 and PrintLine No. 3.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other printingor display formats can be used to reproduce the enlarged character shownin FIG. 4. For example, if the printer printed only a single lineinstead of seven lines on each horizontal pass, twenty one passes of theprinter would be required to generate the character nine and conversely,if the printer printed twenty one lines on a single pass, only one passof the printer across the page would be required to produce the enlargedcharacter nine.

The series of points 22 (representing in the generalized form a visualdisplay point 22a and no-display point 22b or in the specific embodimenta print point 220 and a no-print point 22b) is converted into acorresponding plurality of binary point display or printing signalsshown in tabular form in FIG. 5. The binary printing signals indicatedgenerally by the reference numeral 24 in FIG. 5 have been arranged inthe corresponding Row and Column configuration for a display or printingmeans having seven vertically arranged display or printing points perscan or printing line. The binary printing signals 24 are employedpreferably after buffering, to actuate a conventional matrix printer aswill be described in greater detail below.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown in functional block diagram formthe variable character size matrix printing system of the preferredembodiment of the present invention. The major functional componentsshown in FIG. 6 are as follows: an EIA standard RS-232 serial interface26, a random acess memory (RAM) 28, a read only memory (ROM) 30, acentral processing unit (CPU) 32, a printer interface 34 and aconventional impact or non-impact matrix printer 36. The ROM 30 has anexpansion logic section 38, an interface control logic section 40, amatrix printer control logic section 42 and a character symbol tablesection 44. The RAM has two input data buffers 46 and 48 and two outputdata buffers 50 and 52.

The operation of the variable character size printing system shown inFIG. 6 can best be understood by examining the sequential operations ofthe system. The

input date in ASC-Il code is inputted to the serial interface 26 andconverted to sixteen bit parallel form. The parallel form data is thenstored in the proper input data buffer. Assuming that both input databuffers 46 and 48 are empty, the sixteen bit parallel form date isstored in the first input data buffer 46. When input buffer 46 is full,storage of the date commences in the secone] input data buffer 48 andprocessing of the data in the first input data buffer is initiated.

The data in input data buffer 46 is processed to produce the expandedcharacters in the following sequence. First, each character is used toindex the proper character symbol table in the character symbol tables44. The symbol tables 44 contain for each character the component shapes10 which define the particular character. In the preferred embodiment,six size independent component shapes 10a through 10f are used to defineeach character. As discussed above, these component shapes are three bitbinary coded and stored for each character in the form of a seven worddescriptor 20. Each component shape through 10]", is expanded inaccordance with the size specified in the input data. The resultingbinary point display signals are truncated for the proper scan of thematrix printer 36 and then stored in the first output data buffer 50 forthat scan.

The preceding process is repeated for each character stored in the inputdata buffer 46. When the entire input data buffer 6 has been processed,a scan is printed on the matrix printer 36. The input data buffer 46 isprocessed and the resulting data printed as many times as necessary (Ntimes for character size N) to generate the desired number of scans forthe matrix printer 36. It should be noted that this processing occurs inparallel with the printing of the previous scan.

When the processing of the input data buffer 46 has been completed(although the printing of the data may not necessarily be completed) andthe second input data buffer 48 is full, the input data again commencesto be stored in the first input data buffer 46 and the data in thesecond input data buffer 48 is processed in the same manner as describedabove in connection with the data in the first input data buffer 46.

Having described in detail a preferred embodiment of my invention, itwill be appreciated that the invention in its generalized form as wellas in its specific embodiment offers significant advantages overexisting character generators. The use of size independent componentshapes to define each character greatly reduces the memory requirementsfor the system because the same amount of data can be used to defineeach component shape regardless of its size. In the preferred sixcomponent shape character definitions only three hits are employed tocode each component shape, eg. numbers 0-5 with two extra numbersavailable, eg. 6-7. With this coding scheme, a seven word descriptor canbe formed for each character in a 5 X 7 matrix system.

The basic concepts of my invention are described in Disclosure DocumentNo. 0l5404 filed Dec. 12, 1972 in the United States Patent Office.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the precedingdetailed description of my invention that numerous modifications can bemade therein without departing from the scope of the invention asdefined in the following claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis:

l. A method for producing variable size, matrix de' fined and pointdisplayed characters comprising the steps of:

l. defining each character through a matrix having a predeterminednumber of components, said components each having one of a predeterminednumber of size independent, component shapes with each component beingan element of the matrix;

2. generating a plurality of binary display signals corresponding tosaid component shapes and the desired component size to be displayedwith one binary state representing a display condition and the otherbinary state representing a no-display conditon; and,

3. applying said display signals to a point display with the displaydensity of the points remaining the same regardless of the size of saidcharacter.

2. A method for producing variable size matrix printed characterscomprising the steps of:

l. defining each character through a matrix having a predeterminednumber of components, said components each having one of a predeterminednumber of size independent, component shapes with each component beingan element of the matrix;

2. generating a plurality of binary printing signals corresponding tosaid component shapes and the desired component size to be printed withone binary state representing a print condition and the other binarystate representing a no-print condition;

3. converting said plurality of binary printing signals into a signalformat that is compatible with the printing line format of a matrixprinter; and,

4. applying said converted printing signals to a matrix printer with thematrix printing density of the printing points remaining the sameregardless of the size of said character.

3. The method of claim I wherein each character is defined through a 5 X7 matrix having thirty five components.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of buffering saidconverted printing signals before they are applied to said matrixprinter.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said predetermined number of sizeindependent component shapes IS six.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said component shapes are: (1 an emptyarea; (2) a filled in square; (3) a filled in triangle at (4) a filledin triangle at 90; (5) a filled in triangle at 180; and, (6) a filled intriangle at 270.

7. A method for producing variable size matrix printed characterscomprising the steps of:

l. defining each character through a matrix having a predeterminednumber of components, said components each having one of six, sizeindependent, component shapes with each component being an element ofthe matrix;

2. assigning a numerical component shape code to each one of said sixcomponent shapes;

3. coding each component of the matrix on a row-byrow basis with theparticular numerical component shape code which represents the componentshape for a specific character for each such component whereby eachcharacter is described by a plurality of numbers each representing onerow of the component shape codes for the character, said plurality ofnumbers defining a unique descriptor for the character;

4. storing each one of the character descriptors;

5. generating a plurality of binary printing signals corresponding tosaid component shapes and the desired component size to be printed withone binary state representing a print condition and the other binarystate a no-print" condition;

6. converting said plurality of binary printing signals into a signalformat that is compatible with the printing line format of a matrixprinter; and,

7. applying said converted printing signals to a matrix printer with thematrix printing density of the printing points remaining the sameregardless of the size of said character.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein each character is defined through a 5 X7 matrix having thirty five components.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein each character descriptor is formedfrom seven words.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said numerical components shape codeseach consist of three bits representing one of six numbers in the series07.

H. The method of claim 10 wherein each character descriptor is formedfrom seven fifteen bit numbers.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein said component shapes are: l an emptyarea; (2) a filled in square; (3) a filled in triangle at 0; (4) afilled in triangle at (5) a filled in triangle at and, (6) a filled intriangle at 270.

13. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of buffering saidconverted printing signals before they are applied to said matrixprinter.

14. A variable size character generator for a point display comprising:

1. means for producing signals representative of a matrix of apredetermined number of image components which define each character,said image components each having one of a predetermined number of sizeindependent, component shapes with each component being an element ofthe ma trix',

2. means responsive to said matrix representative signals and to asignal representative of the desired image size for generating signalsrepresenting an array of points to be displayed within each imagecomponent of the matrix by a point display with the display density ofsaid points remaining the same regardless of the size of each character;and,

3. signal generating means for producing a plurality of binary displaysignals for the point display corresponding to said series of points tobe displayed with one binary state representing a display condition andthe other binary state representing a nodisplay condition.

15 The generation of claim 14 further characterized by a point displaymeans responsive to said binary dis play signals.

16. A variable size character generator for a matrix printer comprising:

1. means for storing a character descriptor for each character, whichrepresents a matrix definition of the character in which each matrixcomponent has one of six, size independent, component shapes. saiddescriptor comprising a plurality of numerical character component shapecodes which represent the component shapes of a specific character foreach component of the matrix. said numerical component shape codes beingarranged on a matrix row-by-row basis to form a plurality of numberswhich in turn represent the component shape codes on a row-byrow basisfor the character;

2. size input signal responsive means coupled to said descriptor storagemeans for converting the size of each component shape defined by adescriptor into a series of points to be printed within each matrixcomponent by a matrix printer with the matrix printing density of saidprinting points remaining the same regardless of the size of saidcharacter;

3. signal generating means coupled to said size input signal responsivemeans for generating a plurality of binary printing signalscorresponding to said series of points to be printed with one binarystate representing a print condition and the other binary state ano-print condition; and,

4. means for converting the plurality of binary printing signals to asignal format that is compatible with the printing line format of thematrix printer.

17. The character generator of claim 16 wherein said characterdescriptor represents a 5 X 7 matrix definition of each character.

18. The character generator of claim 16 wherein said component shapesare: (I) an empty area; (2) a filled in square; (3) a filled in triangleat (4) a filled in triangle at 90; (5) a filled in triangle at 180; and,(6) a filled in triangle at 270.

19. The character generator of claim 16 wherein said numerical charactershape codes each consist of three bits representing one of six numbersin the series 0-7.

20. The character generator of claim 19 wherein said characterdescriptor represents a 5 X 7 matrix definition of each character andwherein said numerical character shape codes are arranged on a matrixrowby-row basis to form seven fifteen bit numbers.

21. The character generator of claim 16 further comprising means forbuffering said converted printing sig- 10 nals before said signals areapplied to the matrix printer.

22. The character generator of claim 16 further com prising signal inputmeans for addressing said character descriptor storage means in responseto an input signal representing a character having a descriptor that isstored in said storage means.

23. The character generator of claim 22 wherein said characterdescriptor storage means comprises a readonly memory.

24. A variable size character generator for a matrix printer comprising:

1. means for producing signals representative of a matrix of apredetermined number of image components which define each character,said image components each having one of a predetermined number of sizeindependent, component shapes with each component being an element ofthe matrix;

2. means responsive to said matrix representative signals and to asignal representative of the desired image size for generating signalsrepresenting an array of points to be printed within each imagecomponent of the matrix by a matrix printer with the matrix printingdensity of said points, remaining the same regardless of the size ofeach character;

3 signal generating means for producing a plurality of binary printingsignals for the matrix printer corresponding to said series of points tobe printed with one binary state representing a print condition and theother binary state representing a no-print condition; and,

. signal format conversion means for converting said plurality of binaryprinting signals into a signal format that is compatible with theprinting line format of the matrix printer.

1. A method for producing variable size, matrix defined and pointdisplayed characters comprising the steps of:
 1. defining each characterthrough a matrix having a predetermined number of components, saidcomponents each having one of a predetermined number of sizeindependent, component shapes with each component being an element ofthe matrix;
 2. generating a plurality of binary display signalscorresponding to said component shapes and the desired component size tobe displayed with one binary state representing a display condition andthe other binary state representing a no-display conditon; and, 3.applying said display signals to a point display with the displaydensity of the points remaining the same regardless of the size of saidcharacter.
 2. generating a plurality of binary display signalscorresponding to said component shapes and the desired component size tobe displayed with one binary state representing a display condition andthe other binary state representing a no-display conditon; and,
 2. Amethod for producing variable size matrix printed characters comprisingthe steps of:
 2. means responsive to said matrix representative signalsand to a signal representative of the desired image size for generatingsignals representing an array of points to be printed within each imagecomponent of the matrix by a matrix printer with the matrix printingdensity of said points, remaining the same regardless of the size ofeach character;
 2. generating a plurality of binary printing signalscorresponding to said component shapes and the desired component size tobe printed with one binary state representing a print condition and theother binary state representing a no-print condition;
 2. size inputsignal responsive means coupled to said descriptor storage means forconverting the size of each component shape defined by a descriptor intoa series of points to be printed within each matrix component by amatrix printer with the matrix printing density of said printing pointsremaining the same regardless of the size of said character;
 2. meansresponsive to said matrix representative signals and to a signalrepresentative of the desired image size for generating signalsrepresenting an array of points to be displayed within each imagecomponent of the matrix by a point display with the display density ofsaid points remaining the same regardless of the size of each character;and,
 2. assigning a numerical component shape code to each one of saidsix component shapes;
 3. coding each component of the matrix on arow-by-row basis with the particular numerical component shape codewhich represents the component shape for a specific character for eachsuch component whereby each character is described by a plurality ofnumbers each representing one row of the component shape codes for thecharacter, said plurality of numbers defining a unique descriptor forthe character;
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein each character isdefined through A 5 X 7 matrix having thirty five components.
 3. signalgenerating means for producing a plurality of binary display signals forthe point display corresponding to said series of points to be displayedwith one binary state representing a dIsplay condition and the otherbinary state representing a no-display condition.
 3. signal generatingmeans coupled to said size input signal responsive means for generatinga plurality of binary printing signals corresponding to said series ofpoints to be printed with one binary state representing a printcondition and the other binary state a no-print condition; and, 3.signal generating means for producing a plurality of binary printingsignals for the matrix printer corresponding to said serIes of points tobe printed with one binary state representing a print condition and theother binary state representing a no-print condition; and,
 3. applyingsaid display signals to a point display with the display density of thepoints remaining the same regardless of the size of said character. 3.converting said plurality of binary printing signals into a signalformat that is compatible with the printing line format of a matrixprinter; and,
 4. applying said converted printing signals to a matrixprinter with the matrix printing density of the printing pointsremaining the same regardless of the size of said character.
 4. signalformat conversion means for converting said plurality of binary printingsignals into a signal format that is compatible with the printing lineformat of the matrix printer.
 4. means for converting the plurality ofbinary printing signals to a signal format that is compatible with theprinting line format of the matrix printer.
 4. The method of claim 1further comprising the steps of buffering said converted printingsignals before they are applied to said matrix printer.
 4. storing eachone of the character descriptors;
 5. generating a plurality of binaryprinting signals corresponding to said component shapes and the desiredcomponent size to be printed with one binary state representing a''''print'''' condition and the other binary state a ''''no-print''''condition;
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein said predetermined number ofsize independent component shapes is six.
 6. The method of claim 5wherein said component shapes are: (1) an empty area; (2) a filled insquare; (3) a filled in triangle at 0*; (4) a filled in triangle at 90*;(5) a filled in triangle at 180*; and, (6) a filled in triangle at 270*.6. converting said plurality of binary printing signals into a signalformat that is compatible with the printing line format of a matrixprinter; and,
 7. applying said converted printing signals to a matrixprinter with the matrix printing density of the printing pointsremaining the same regardless of the size of said character.
 7. A methodfor producing variable size matrix printed characters comprising thesteps of:
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein each character is definedthrough a 5 X 7 matrix having thirty five components.
 9. The method ofclaim 8 wherein each character descriptor is formed from seven words.10. The method of claim 7 wherein said numerical components shape codeseach consist of three bits representing one of six numbers in the series0-7.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein each character descriptor isformed from seven fifteen bit numbers.
 12. The method of claim 7 whereinsaid component shapes are: (1) an empty area; (2) a filled in square;(3) a filled in triangle at 0*; (4) a filled in triangle at 90*; (5) afilled in triangle at 180*; and, (6) a filled in triangle at 270*. 13.The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of buffering saidconverted printing signals before they are applied to said matrixprinter.
 14. A variable size character generator for a point displaycomprising:
 15. The generation of claim 14 further characterized by apoint display means responsive to said binary display signals.
 16. Avariable size character generator for a matrix printer comprising: 17.The character generator of claim 16 wherein said character descriptorrepresents a 5 X 7 matrix definition of each character.
 18. Thecharacter generator of claim 16 wherein said component shapes are: (1)an empty area; (2) a filled in square; (3) a filled in triangle at 0*;(4) a filled in triangle at 90*; (5) a filled in triangle at 180*; and,(6) a filled in triangle at 270*.
 19. The character generator of claim16 wherein said numerical character shape codes each consist of threebits representing one of six numbers in the series 0-7.
 20. Thecharacter generator of claim 19 wherein said character descriptorrepresents a 5 X 7 matrix definition of each character and wherein saidnumerical character shape codes are arranged on a matrix row-by-rowbasis to form seven fifteen bit numbers.
 21. The character generator ofclaim 16 further comprising means for buffering said converted printingsignals before said signals are applied to the matrix printer.
 22. Thecharacter generator of claim 16 further comprising signal input meansfor addressing said character descriptor storage means in response to aninput signal representing a character having a descriptor that is storedin said storage means.
 23. The character generator of claim 22 whereinsaid character descriptor storage means comprises a read-only memory.24. A variable size character generator for a matrix printer comprising: